Bulls Fans Slam Surprising Billy Donovan Announcement originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
The Chicago Bulls recently shook the basketball world — as much as the very low-stakes Bulls are capable of doing, anyway — with a revelation from ESPN’s Shams Charania on Sunday.
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The team has agreed to a “multi-year contract extension” with its long-term head coach Billy Donovan, sources informed Charania, but the secretive Bulls would not divulge just how many years Donovan would be on the books.
As Charania notes, the New York Knicks had reached out to Chicago about hiring Donovan to replace a different ex-Bulls head coach, Tom Thibodeau.
K.C. Johnson of Chicago Sports Network reports that the Bulls’ PR staff has verified the veracity of Charania’s reporting.
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Donovan, 60, has been with Chicago since 2020-21, and boasts a thoroughly mediocre 195-205 record across his five seasons with the franchise so far. During that stretch, Donovan has taken Chicago to the postseason exactly once.
Fans understandably revolted.
At the top of the heap was @bradmiska, who shared an emphatic disinterested Patti Harrison gif, featuring the actress yelling, “I don’t want that!”
“I guess Bulls wanted to stay in Play In territory for more years to come,” wrote @jbondwagon.
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Donovan has led Chicago to the play-in tournament across each of the past three seasons.
This was hardly the only sentiment ripping Donovan’s play-in tournament upside, as it was echoed by @ShaunM001.
Another fan applauded Donovan’s ability to earn major money.
According to The Chicago Sun-Times’ Joe Cowley, the Bulls also extended the leaders of their (ineffective) front office, executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley.
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After missing the playoffs for a third straight season this spring, Karnisovas revealed to Cowley that he expected to be with the team for a long time, given his solid relationship with owner Jerry Reinsdorf.
“We take pride, especially in this building, in everybody being on the same page,” Karnisovas said. “It’s very hard to accomplish, but that’s how it is in this building between the ownership, front office, coaching staff, performance staff, so they have always been very supportive of my decisions, my thoughts, about this direction.”
Related: Bulls Have No Interest in Trading Key Guard to Warriors in Potential Jonathan Kuminga Deal
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 27, 2025, where it first appeared.